Real Wage Adjustment and Employment Policies in the Nordic Countries
分析北欧国家为何能避免西欧的高失业率，探讨工资对失业的敏感度、集中谈判的作用以及积极劳动力市场政策对工资和就业的影响，发现这类政策可能推高工资、减少正规就业。
Nordic employment Lars Calmfors and Ragnar Nymoen Sweden and Norway, but also Finland, have managed to avoid the general Western European rise in unemployment. The article discusses to what extent this can be explained by a smoothly functioning wage-setting system and by active labour market policies. The analysis confirms earlier findings of an unusually large responsiveness of wages to unemployment in Sweden and Norway. It is, however, questionable whether this can be explained by centralized bargaining. Nor do the authors find any evidence that 'corporatist' tax-wage bargains should have contributed to wage restraint. The absence of hysteresis effects may be one explanation of why unemployment rises were easily reversed. The most controversial finding is that active labour market policies may have strong wage-raising effects. If so, labour market programmes may actually reduce regular employment and even increase open unemployment. The authors argue that a reduced – rather than an increased – emphasis on labour market policies may have been an important factor for real wage restraint especially in Sweden. This may be an important lesson for those who regard extensive labour market programmes of the Swedish type as a blueprint to follow.